


Setting Sail

by Shadaras



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, First Meetings, Magic, Pirates, Pre-Relationship, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:35:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25616734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadaras/pseuds/Shadaras
Summary: Glimmer's soulmark confounds everyone right up until she meets a pirate.
Relationships: Catra/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 53
Collections: Battleship 2020, Battleship 2020 - Red Team





	Setting Sail

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PrisonersDilemma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrisonersDilemma/gifts).



The soulmark on Glimmer’s arm defies the vast libraries of Brightmoon, and even Bow’s dads—once he finally breaks and introduces her to them—have no idea what it could mean. It’s a fanged skull, which doesn’t seem particularly identifiable, except it also has the faded outlines of cat ears and a mane of hair layered around it.

Soulmarks aren’t common—they’re tied to the royal lines, to the power of Etheria and the Runestones—so by the time Glimmer’s old enough to start looking for someone with a soulmark that might represent her she’s heard the warnings over and over again: _People will draw them on,_ her father says, even as the winged moon that covers his collarbones peeks out of his robes; _It should be personal to you,_ her mother says, the circular spell-glyphs on her hands still shining beautiful lavender.

So she knows to be careful, is the thing. Her father shows her a spell to reveal illusions, and her mother teaches her to draw on the Moonstone to cast away make-up. Glimmer practices them both, along with the hundred other little tricks of pleasure and purpose, until they’re so deeply trained into her that she can call them out of the air with a thought.

None of this prevents the sailboat she and Bow (who their parents comfortably assume will be her partner, if her soulmate never shows up or is otherwise unsuitable; neither of them is sure what they think of that but it doesn’t keep them from being best friends) borrowed on a lark one day (teleportation is _very useful_ for impromptu trips to escape endless lessons) from getting overtaken by a pirate.

Glimmer probably could’ve gotten them out of there, because one pirate ship with two little outrigger boats catching them in a pinch really doesn’t matter when you can teleport, but she and Bow were both too busy staring at the flag the pirate ship flew: A laughing skull with sharp fangs and cat’s-ears, haloed by a jagged ring that might just be hair.

“Is that?” Bow hisses, panicked as he clings to her arm.

Mutely, Glimmer nods, clasping her left forearm tight; she keeps her soulmark covered by an elegant bracer most of the time. It’s safer not to advertise the imagery if she can avoid it, to keep people from trying to appeal to her based upon it. She can’t think of how a pirate, of all people, could’ve discovered the secret.

“Should we leave?” Bow asks, glancing at the boats as they closed in.

“No,” Glimmer says, a snap decision. She’ll be able to break them out at any time. “I want to meet this person.”

Bow sighs, but there’s no surprise in his voice. “Your parents are going to kill me.”

“Not if I come home with my soulmate in tow,” Glimmer replies, and then the ships are on them and there’s no more time to talk because apparently this pirate has a _princess_ on their side. Glimmer has just enough time to share a concerned glance with Bow before the red lightning hits, and the last thing she sees before being knocked out is scorpion claws.

When she wakes up, Glimmer doesn’t see Bow. She doesn’t see much of anything, honestly, because the room is dark, but _that’s_ something she can deal with even when her arms are tied behind her back. Glimmer concentrates, calling on the Moonstone, and the air around her begins to sparkle and glitter and shine, revealing a dirty little room with a barred door. As she reaches out, guiding her sparks through the door, she sees another room across the way. In there, she finds Bow.

It’s a relief, and it also makes her worry, because Bow’s still unconscious. She’s got more resistance to magic than he does—being a Princess and a mage both help—but she’s pretty sure that what actually knocked them out was old-fashioned brute force.

“Turn those off,” a sharp voice says, and Glimmer loses her focus. Her soft blue light goes out, and it’s replaced with lantern-gold flickers as the speaker advances. Glimmer catches the first glimpse of her face and then just _stares_.

Her face is made of determined lines and sharp edges, her eyes are hard and heterochromatic, and her hair is a mane extending out from her pointed cat ears. She’s clearly the inspiration—and likely the maker—of the ship’s flag, and also _definitely_ the source of Glimmer’s soulmark. Glimmer looks, trying to find where the pirate’s own soulmark would be, and assumes it’s on her covered right arm.

Then the pirate sets her lantern down at the door and leans against it, casually draping her arms through the bars. “So, Sparkles, do you think your parents would ransom you back?” she asks, voice a low drawl. “Or is your boyfriend the important one here?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Glimmer retorts automatically, even though that’s really not the most important thing to refute. “Who are you?”

She smiles, showing the fangs Glimmer expected. “Captain Catra of the _Frightful_.” She leans closer, eyes narrowing. “And I want to know why you’ve got a tattoo or whatever of _me_. Scorpia started gushing about soulmates as soon as she saw it, but I tend to take what she says with a few grains of salt.”

“No, she’s right.” Glimmer straightens as much as she can with the ropes around her. She hadn’t even noticed that her bracer was missing. “Princess Glimmer of Brightmoon.”

Catra looks like she’s just bitten into a lemon. “What the _fuck_. Soulmates are _real_? Adora’s been going on and on about them since we were kids, and Scorpia didn’t help, and—” she shook herself all over, bristling. “I am _not_ your soulmate, _Sparkles_ ,” she snarls. “And I never will be!”

With that, she grabs the lantern and stalks away, and Glimmer sees the robin’s-egg-blue dragonfly wings extending from a glittering starburst in the cutaway that bared her shoulder-blades.

Glimmer shudders, the breath knocked out of her as surely as with a fist. She understands, now, why her parents could never quite describe the feeling of _certainty_ that swept over them upon seeing their mate’s match. She’s feeling that now as Catra disappears, and all she wants is to follow.

But she can’t, not yet. If Catra’s bristling at just the idea of soulmates, begging her to come back because her heart feels stretched to its limit won’t do her any good.

Instead, Glimmer settles into her cell to wait for Bow to wake up. Her parents are going to be so upset when they return, but it would be worth it if she can bring her soulmate home.


End file.
